W's Iraq sting ends Dems' summer daze

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On Sunday night, President Bush performed his annual homage to
boxer Muhammad Ali. When the President retreats to Crawford, Tex.,
in August, his political opponents start slugging away. By Labor Day,
the President appears to be bloody and beaten, just barely hanging on.

And then Bush comes back to Washington, springs into action and
punches the arm-weary Democrats right in the nose. In boxing, this is
called a rope-a-dope. In politics it is known as recasting the debate.

Last summer, Bush's critics were all over him for pursuing a unilateral
Iraq policy. Last September, the President responded with a speech to
the UN in which he called for - and got - a Security Council resolution.
The resolution was worthless, of course; most UN decisions are. But by
getting it, Bush knocked his opponents off balance. By the time they
recovered, Gen. Tommy Franks was catching crawfish on the banks of
the Tigris.

This summer's theme was the failure of the war. Where are the weapons
of mass destruction? How come soldiers are dying? What's the exit
strategy?

Slowly, the Democratic candidates punched themselves into a frenzy.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean started calling for a U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri labeled Bush "a
miserable failure." Even Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut got in a
few blows. The cheers of the partisan crowd convinced them that they
were on the verge of a knockout.

And then, pow! Bush went on TV and told the country that Iraq is
simply a battle in a much larger global war against terrorism. And you
don't stop in the middle of a war to start fretting over money and
counting casualties.

Bush's critics sent up an immediate holler. All along they had been
arguing that there was no proven link between deposed dictator
Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda (although most Americans had no
problem in discerning such a connection). Now with a Baathist-jihadist
front operating in Iraq, they found themselves charging Bush with
causing this to happen. Like the argument that America is responsible
for the rise of radical Islam in Afghanistan, this is a barely relevant
debater's point.

Bush also has answered the defeatist question about the national exit
strategy: He intends to fight until the war is won. That will be when he -
or some future President - determines that the U.S. and its interests are
no longer endangered by a de facto anti-American coalition composed
of a soon-to-be nuclear Iran and its Hezbollah terror proxy, Syria (also
linked to Hezbollah); Al Qaeda (now operating out of Iran); Palestinian
radicals (comrades in arms with both the Saddamites and Hezbollah),
and the increasingly less enigmatic Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia.

The President has asked the Congress for money to underwrite the war,
and the Democrats will refuse this request at their peril. He also has
declared that the U.S. won't cut and run in the face of casualties. This
sounds like sacrilege to people in the grips of Vietnam-era timidity. But
most Americans will see this as simple common sense. As the dovish
former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once asked in a different
context, what's the point of having a splendid military if you are afraid
to use it?

The Democrats aren't finished, of course. They will recover from the
beating they took on Sunday, and the debate will go on.

But the President has already changed its course. Like his fellow
tactician, Ali, Bush is back, floating like a butterfly and stinging like a
bee.

08/26/03: Latinos are looking up08/13/03: The cynical manipulation of Hitler's legacy for political purposes 07/23/03: Dems under the spell of midsummer's dream 07/21/03: Can't count on Arab polls for the truth07/14/03: Dead spy walking07/13/03: It's a mistake to battle insurgents 07/10/03: It's a mistake to send troops to Liberia06/26/03: A Dem leaps in and lands on his face06/20/03: Let Iraq build its own playgrounds 06/12/03: Raines and Clinton  boomers gone astray06/09/03: Why Hillary did believe Bubba and what it says about her prospective presidency06/04/03: Iran is next: Bush must tell Americans the Big Truth about ayatollahs 05/30/03: NYTimes has a bigger problem than Blair and Bragg  Dowd05/27/03: Political  and literal  suicide05/12/03: That noise is Europe rising 05/09/03: Dems overplay the economy card 05/05/03: Truth or Consequences: To win Arab liberals' trust, Bush needs to find Iraq's WMDs05/01/03: U.S. security, not economy, is key for prez04/28/03: Real artists, not airheads04/22/03: Sealed With a Kiss 04/14/03: Don't believe the cheers04/03/03: Iraq's only the start --- Syria & Iran are next 04/01/03: War's happy troubadours03/27/03: What's not going on is the key in this war 03/20/03: The big question: Can Arabs handle liberty? 03/17/03: In war, like in baseball, the idea is to make the other guy cry --- now, let's go get 'em!03/13/03: Jewish plot? This pol has gone punchy 03/11/03: Prez is ready to finish off the Security Council, too 03/04/03: Those human shields need some star power 02/28/03: How prez could further racial pluralism but end affirnative action02/24/03: Prof's arrest will test Arab Americans' loyalty 02/11/03: Rhyme, but no reason 02/04/03: McGovern's children01/23/03: A peace movement that's going nowhere 01/13/03: No time for experts01/07/03: Senator from Mayberry shouldn't alarm prez 12/31/02: Dem Dummies 12/19/02: Saudis still play Santa to Arafat 12/13/02: Lott has to be dumped to save W's authority 12/05/02: Kissinger's Saudi pals litter 9/11 money trail 11/25/02: Sharon looks like a winner11/18/02: It's the war, stupid11/14/02: The Dems don't have a prayer11/07/02: Watch for Dubya to give Arik political hug 10/31/02: Sharpton the patriot10/22/02: Rabin, gone but not missed10/17/02: Israelis bracing for US' punch at Iraq 10/14/02: Geriatric war resisters09/27/02: Al Gore: The Lost Boy of American politics09/05/02: The intifadeh's over, and the Israelis won 08/29/02: At the world summit, just anger & hypocrisy08/21/02: No time for weak knees on Iraq 08/16/02: A pro-Arab pol may get the beating she deserves 08/13/02: Fight it out now 08/02/02: Memo to The Council on Foreign Relations: U.S. values won't sell in Arab world 07/31/02: Israel's nutty neighbors